(1528–1588) The Martyrdom of Saint George, pen and brown ink, brown wash, heightened with white, on laid paper, laid down old on support, 35 x 28 cm, Mounted, framed, (Sch)

Provenance:
Collection Sir Peter Lely (1618–1680), London, Lugt 2092;
anonymous collector’s mark: three lilies, presumably France, Lugt 2781;
Collection Richard Cosway (1740–1821), London, Lugt 628;
Private property, Germany.

The present drawing is related to the painting „The Martyrdom of Saint George“ (ca. 1565) by Paolo Veronese for the high altar of San Giorgio in Braida in Verona. The preliminary drawing for the composition is preserved in the J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles (Inv. 83. GA.258). The drawing reproduces the main central group of the composition around Saint George and the two women with the putti in the lower zone of the sky;
the left background, however, and the group around the Madonna and the Child in the upper sky zone are missing and are the details of the architecture and the sculpture at the left margin only summarily indicated. Stylistically, the present drawing is reminiscent of works by Veronese’s contemporary and friend Paolo Farinati (1524–1606). However, the present study lacks spatiality and movement and the hard outlines and large-scale washes and white heightenings also speak against an attribution to the artist. The drawing may come from the surrounding of Paolo Farinati and may have been made in preparation of a version after the painting by Veronese.